As a quick recollection, Nairaland Politics Section Poster of the year is an initiative of Nairaland management to recognize posters that have made quality contribution to the section in the year under consideration.

Nairaland's sectional awards officially started in 2009, but that of politics section was not recognized in 2009.

This year, our first round (open nomination) has thrown up 3 contenders. They are

1, Gbawe2, Katsumoto3, Naptu

Who will take the prize come December 23 end of the voting? You decide

Rule1, Just name the person, out of these three, that you feel deserves the award. No long story pls. Nomination thread is still open for side talks, just name your choice here and move on.

2, Any user that registered later than November 30 2012 is not eligible to vote. Any vote fron such handle is invalid. Similarly any old handle that has less than 3 posts as at December 08, 2012 is not eligible to vote.

GBAWE: Long-typing Gbawe joined Nairaland in May 2009 and has never looked back as a force to reckon with in this section. He is generally regarded as Nairaland politics leader of opposition. He deploys his writing skills in arguments and debates, to the delight of many. He is usually at his best when deconstructing Federal Government policies, actions and inactions. He is the rallying point for those that term themselves as progressives(whether you agree they are or not is another thing). Gbawe clinched the big prize here last year. Will he retain it as the first poster to do so? Or will he be dethroned? It's left for you!

"I see people attacking the rich and successful routinely and without a care for decency and fairness. As Nigerians, we should know better given how we are victims of negative stereotyping by other Africans. You have a nice car, nice house and dress well - all gained through hard work and talent. Yet fellow Africans , never bothered about developing themselves optimally so as to compete and thrive , are more comfortable excusing their own deficiencies by sneering at you and telling the world you are not to be respected because you gained everything through criminality, fraud etc."

-Gbawe, taking a jibe at the tendency to throw away the baby with the bathwater in our political analyses.

KATSUMOTO: Katsumoto is so good that since the beginning of this award three years ago, he has always featured in top 3. In fact, in 2010, he only lost by 1 vote. Last year, he was 3rd. Katsumoto has a wide appeal in this section as a value-adding intellectual. He argues with facts. He marshals his points coherently. Katz is one of the few posters here you need to do extensive homework before arguing with. He was also the winner of the first edition of Nairaland Politics Section monthly debate that took place in October. He also took active part as moderator in November edition. Is this Katz's time? Or will he retain his bronze and silver spots like Super Eagles in Nations cups? I can't wait pls

"Why did the British force groups of people who were so different in many ways into a union? To understand this conundrum, one has to look at the antecedents of the administrators at that time. Who oversaw the amalgamation of Nigeria? Lord Lugard was the British administrator who saw to the amalgamation of Nigeria and the name Nigeria was allegedly coined by his wife. Lord Lugard worked for a number of British corporations whose economic interests lay in British colonies. He worked for the British West Charterland Company, the Royal East African Company before transferring to the Royal Niger Company. As with all corporations, the primary motive is profit. These weren’t the days of Corporate Social Responsibility and even if a corporation had some moral justification to provide social benefits, it certainly didn’t feel this way about a people it felt were savages." -Katsumoto, surgically deconstructing the psychology of the 1914 amalgamation

NAPTU2 Naptu is obviously the dark horse here. He is the only one that is making it to the top 3 for the first time. Naptu is actually not an unknown name in this section, even in time past. Only that he does his things so quietly. He is a silent quality in this section. He is also not much into partisanship and sectarianism - perhaps the reason he is not regarded as a top shot in this section. But like they say, a goldfish definitely has no hiding place, it was only a matter of time before he took his deserved position in the league of top posters here. His recent thread on history of Nigeria in pictures shot him into prominence. And he has actually started similar threads in the past. Are these enough to clinch him the award this year? It's your decision, ladies and gentlemen.

""Of all Liberties, freedom to know, to speak and to criticise stands first: this freedom is the bugbear of tyrants…A press that is not free cannot achieve a higher standing as an institution than that of a gramophone industry…" (Herbert Macaulay)"

Thanks to Naptu, we may never have even known Herbert Macaulay fought for independent press far back 1930's. And that's just one of the many ways Naptu educated us.